US evacuates embassy staff from Libya over Tripoli clashes

The Obama administration has been criticised for its response to a 2012 attack on its embassy in Libya.

AFP: STR

The United States has evacuated its embassy in Libya, driving its staff under heavy military guard across the border to Tunisia because of escalating clashes between rival militias in Tripoli.

Security in the Libyan capital has deteriorated following two weeks of fighting between brigades of former rebel fighters who have exchanged rocket, cannon and artillery fire in southern Tripoli near the embassy compound.

"Security has to come first. Regrettably, we had to take this step because the location of our embassy is in very close proximity to intense fighting and ongoing violence between armed Libyan factions," a US State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said in a statement.

F-16 fighters and Osprey aircraft provided security during the five-hour drive to Tunisia and there were no incidents.

US secretary of state John Kerry said much of the violence was close to the compound and presented "a very real risk" to embassy personnel.

"We will return the moment the security situation permits us to do so. But given the situation ... we want to take every precaution to protect our folks," Mr Kerry said.

"We call on all Libyans to engage in the political process and to come together in order to avoid the violence. So many people died and gave so much effort to the birth of the new Libya."

The United Nations has already pulled its staff out of the North African state, and Turkey has suspended its embassy operations because of the violence in Tripoli.

US president Barack Obama's administration faced intense domestic criticism over its handling of a 2012 attack on the US consulate in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi, which killed four Americans including the ambassador, Chris Stevens.

The State Department spokeswoman said staff would return to Tripoli once it was deemed safe. Until then, embassy operations would be conducted from elsewhere in the region and Washington.

The clashes for control of Tripoli International Airport are the latest eruption in a deepening rivalry among bands of ex-fighters who once battled side by side against Moamar Gaddafi, but have since turned against each other in the scramble for control.

Since the 2011 fall of Tripoli, fighters from the western town of Zintan and allies have controlled the area including the international airport, while rivals loyal to the port city of Misrata have entrenched themselves in other parts of the capital.

Heavily armed, they have sided with competing political forces vying to shape the future of Libya in the messy transition since the end of Gaddafi's four-decade rule.